Matt Cauz
CFL.ca
The Saskatchewan / Montreal game started out resembling ‘Caddyshack II’ and ended up more like ‘Aliens’, a really good sequel, just not as good as the original. Once again Montreal roared out to an early lead, with Tim Maypray returning another missed field goal for a touchdown giving the Alouettes the kind of lead that normally would lead me to tweeting ‘This game is over!’
Yet once again Saskatchewan dug deep and showed the kind of mental toughness that got them to the Grey Cup last year.
The biggest difference being they came out on the losing end, just barely.
The Roughriders could have won this game if it wasn’t for two critical mistakes made by Wes Cates. I hate to single one guy out (all right that’s not entirely true) but his unnecessary roughness penalty on Eric Wilson cost his team an easy 3rd and short, forcing Luca Congi to kick a field goal that ended up leading to the Maypray touchdown giving Montreal a 24-7 lead. That single selfish act was a 10 point swing, minimum. You can’t have those mistakes and expect to win in Montreal. Listen I understand that Wilson was trying to stir things up but you can’t swing at a guy when the officials are right there. Just a dumb play all around.
Then, with under a minute left, Cates dropped a big pass that would have given Darian Durant the ball on the 41 yard line with about :40 seconds left.
However, in their loss, Saskatchewan gave the rest of the league an excellent blueprint for neutralizing Montreal’s potent offensive attack. To stop Anthony Calvillo, Avon Cobourne and the Alouettes’ fleet of talented wide-outs you need a methodical, effective offence. It’s just about impossible for any defence to keep Montreal under 30 points at home, but you can do it with your offence.
The most impressive aspect of the Roughriders offensive showing was not their 500 yards of total offence. Rather it was the 33 total first downs they amassed on 75 total plays controlling the clock for over 35 minutes.
Sure Durant and Co. could only muster up six points in the 3rd quarter but by staying on the field for the majority of the quarter they held Montreal to just 3 points, giving them a realistic chance for a comeback in the 4th.
Before knocking Calvillo out, Saskatchewan’s defence and offence had limited him to 23 yards passing while sacking him twice in the second half.
Obviously right now Saskatchewan cannot be feeling good about losing and falling to silver medal status in the West (Calgary is looking really good right now!) but they did manage to dominate the best team in the league on the road. A small consolation, but one nonetheless.
Now can we find a way to get these teams to play at least one more time? I’m fairly certain no one would complain if we were treated to one more match and I’m betting it would be superior to The Godfather Part III.
By the way I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Chip Cox. I’m not sure how you decide who the “best” defensive player is in the league, but right now no one is creating more big plays than Cox. He just always seems to be around when the ball is hanging up in the air begging to be plucked by a defender. Both of his interceptions were the result of lucky bounces and being in the right place at the right time. Now that may seem like I am underselling him, but trust me I’m not. There are a ton of guys who in the same situation would not have come away with those two picks.
Five other quick thoughts for Week Six:
(1) Ben Cahoon and Anthony Calvillo are so old (Insert: ‘How old are they’) they actually had played in those retro jerseys before … back in the 70’s when they were the normal ones! (Insert cricket noises here) Thank you, thank you very much, remember to tip the wait staff.
(2) Sure it may back fire from time to time (See Murphy, Rob) but Twitter makes pro sports better. The Nik Lewis vs. Korey Banks twitter tête-à-tête added a nice slice of animosity. Who doesn’t like seeing a little viral trash talking before games?
(3) I’m sure I’m not the only one to flash this stat but it bears repeating:
In the Toronto Argonauts four wins Cory Boyd has rushed the ball 83 times for 583 yards and three touchdowns. However in their two losses Boyd only averaged 42.5 yards. By the way his 43-yard touchdown run was a textbook example of downfield blocking by Toronto’s wide receivers.
(4) Yeah Boyd deserves the majority of credit for the Argo’s 29-28 victory; but this was the first time all year where Cleo Lemon played an integral part in getting the W. It’s baby steps but Lemon has started to show signs of improvement.
(5) In his last two games, Arland Bruce III has almost as many receiving yards (469 yards) as Geroy Simon and Jermaine Copeland combined (472). Simon and Copeland ranked 4th and 5th respectively in total receiving yards in 2009.
